And we're back with another installment of I Hart Space! This is Part II of Chapter 2: Written in the Stars, and it is written in those stars by Roxanne. If you missed part I, it is here. Enjoy! . . .
Okay, so where were we? Oh, right, Andromeda and Collin (formerly known as Unibrow) had a very happy wedding and were ready to embark on the journey of the rest of their lives as the generation two couple. First, though, we need to make a little more room in the house. Luckily, it is birthday time for the younger twins.
Andromeda, who has been working on her cooking skill in preparation to take over as the heiress, cooks a confetti cake for her brothers. Because they're the youngest and not potential heirs, I thought I'd save time and have her make one that they can both use. This works as long as you get the birthday candles back on before a sim can take a slice. Orion gets to go first.
However, even though I paused and queued up someone to put candles back on, Collin is too fast for me and swoops in to take a slice.
A short time later, after another cake was baked, Leo grows up too. Leo adds the final trait of music lover to outgoing and cheerful, while Orion added glutton to cheerful and active. The boys moved out in short order to go live with Aries. Now it's finally time for the newlyweds' honeymoon to Granite Falls, where we can also get started on Collin's aspiration.
One of the first things he needs to do is catch five fish. Andromeda joins him for a bit, and she is surprisingly better at it than Collin is, despite the fact that he studied and gained a level or two before ever trying. Andromeda had no prior experience, but she was making her husband look bad, so I sent her to go look for an easel so she could work on her aspiration. What a romantic honeymoon, right? While they both ignore each other to work on aspirations? Eh, it's just the way that I play.
"What do you mean there's no easels in Granite Falls? And I can't buy one at the Ranger Station? This is ridiculous!"
"What would you even want an easel for out here?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe to be inspired by all the beautiful scenery?"
"That's weird. Hey, wanna go light stuff on fire?"
And so Andromeda has literally nothing productive to do as she brought no skill books with her and can't work on her aspiration, and the few skill books available at the Ranger Station are things I want Collin to work on, not her. Sigh. She did a fair amount of cooking, and, yes, roasting marshmallows.
Collin's Bro Sense TM was tingling, and it turns out the guy fishing next to him was also a bro, so they chatted for a bit before sharing a bro hug. How many times can I say bro in one sentence? Anyway, I thought it was nice that he got a good buff from being near his bro, but I don't think these two have even hung out since.
Andromeda, bored out of her mind, fishes with Collin's doppelgänger while sustaining the "unbearable" moodlet just for being around the bear. This made me laugh.
Working his way up the Outdoor Enthusiast track, Collin finally discovers the bramble patch that leads to the Deep Woods where the hermit lives. I searched and searched and searched, but the National Park at Granite Falls is surprisingly large and irregularly shaped, making it difficult to orient yourself when you keep bouncing around trees while you scroll through the margins. I finally had to go find a guide online to give me some idea what direction to search in, because it was looking pretty hopeless for a while.
There, Collin met Shelby the hermit, who is in his pajamas every time we see him. I know there is a guy's hermit outfit - I have seen it in pictures - but Shelby is always in his grey plaid jammies. They made friends this time, but not yet high enough for the fungal infusion herbalism recipe to be passed on, since I know that is a later step and I don't want to mess it up just in case it doesn't register if they're already good friends. Shelby calls Collin to chat or asks to come over at least once a day, and every time he appears, he is in his pajamas. The guy never changes! I mean, I guess if you're a hermit, you can wear whatever you want, but . . .
With the help of some moodlet solvers, Collin spent a good amount of time in the Deep Woods collecting plants and insects and fishing, so that he can get started on an herbalism-themed garden and the herbalism skill itself when he gets home. Finally,
Back home, Collin sets to work on brewing up some herbal remedies, since, like cooking, actually doing is the quickest way to raise this skill. I had him brew a couple of "Sadness Alleviations Lotions" because Galaxy and Jorge's age bars are filling rapidly, and I wondered whether the lotions might help with the eventual mourning moodlets. FYI: They help with 'small' sad moodlets but not mourning.
We also added this little guy to the kitchen. He's a mountain lionfish (lol, okay) that Collin caught in the Deep Woods. We named him Smokey.
"Remember: only you can prevent fishbowl fires!"
Collin also started on his herbalism garden, planting a few regular plants but mostly the various herbs he had identified. If I'm remembering correctly, he couldn't plant ones he couldn't identify yet, and his herbalism skill was pretty low at this point, so he left some spaces for those mysterious plants.
In the meantime, he tried out the new pool (don't worry, you'll get a better look at it eventually) while unsuccessfully trying to identify some mushrooms. Since he had already identified the morels, I had a pretty good feeling these were the poisonous morels, but he didn't know that, and he seemed to suffer no ill effects from repeatedly discontentedly trying a bite of a mysterious mushroom at the pool's edge.
When he wasn't doing that, Collin was being ruthlessly "mentored" by Galaxy, who is now at level 9, but still gaining performance s-l-o-w-l-y. It kind of looks like she feels the frustration I do at this. Poor Collin. Now all the boys are moved out, Jorge is too old, and Andromeda is too busy, so he takes the brunt of Galaxy's training.
If it seems like this chapter has been pretty Collin-focused so far, that's because I was trying really hard to get his aspiration going. Meanwhile, however, Andromeda was just painting and selling Jorge's and Galaxy's paintings, so there wasn't a lot of reasons to take pictures of her. Now there is, though. This knowing smile says that she just completed her aspiration of being fabulously wealthy, all before she even had kids! Yay, Andromeda!! In the meantime, she had topped the painting skill, so I had her choose Painter Extraordinaire for her next aspiration since it would be easy to complete.
She also picked up the photography skill and, with the most expensive camera, took these pretty good portraits of the founding couple for posterity. I didn't choose the poses. They just launched into those on their own when she went to take a picture. Later on, I may try to really explore this skill with her because it intrigues me and I haven't done much with it yet.
Jorge and Galaxy have full, shining bars, which means they should be going any moment. That evening, before the couple retired (which is actually a bit before the previous picture, but never mind that), Andromeda made sure to give her parents what could be a final hug. They've had a great relationship.
Galaxy and Jorge also celebrate with a final woohoo, because screw being "dangerously exhausted" if you're already close to dying. Let's party!
And of course, they finish up with a hug because that's just how the Harts roll.
Collin tries to get in on this dying business by setting himself on fire while brewing, but he manages to extinguish himself pretty quickly.
Late at night, Jorge gets up and signals that he is ready to pass on. The dying animations kill me, you guys. They're so sad. They way they lay down . . . ugh, it gets to me.
The girls are already in bed, so Collin, who had been up late studying gardening, is the only witness to Jorge's death. Jorge was a great legacy spouse and father, and he accomplished much in his life. He will be missed.
After that, Collin finally goes to bed too, but his lip quivers and he sniffles all night.
The next morning, Galaxy is heartbroken to discover that she is a widow. This is the hardest part of these deaths. Not the animation, not Collin's "witnessed death" moodlet, not even the annoyance of a two-day strong sad moodlet for Galaxy, but the obvious misery she's in. Excuse me, I need a moment . . . okay, back. Galaxy's bar is still shining so she should be joining Jorge soon. It's a shame she never reached the top of her career.
"Oh you guys are flirting? That's cool. Wish I had a husband to flirt with."
However, Galaxy does not die that day, or the next. Instead she continues to mope around the house, being miserable and making me miserable, but surviving and even going to work all the same.
Because I was sure she would be leaving us soon, I let Galaxy have a loose leash except for trying to max her job. The rest of the time, she often found her way out here, where she has discovered swimming to be her new favorite hobby. She swims laps all the time. Except for mentoring Collin, she has virtually abandoned her gym in favor of the pool. While Collin works on his half-edible, half-poisonous garden, Andromeda keeps Galaxy company in what I was thinking would be her last days.
She does stop to head to the museum with a newly-grown Cassandra to fulfill an obligation for her aspiration. Cassandra and Andromeda are still besties, but it was a bit weird since Cassandra was still a teen, so I grew her up and gave her a more mature makeover befitting her new age.
Andromeda also entertains visitors, most of whom are there for her company. Leo and Orion visit often but Aries has not visited the house once since moving out. Typical.
YAY YAY YAY! Galaxy finally reached the top of her career several days after Jorge's death, her age bar shining and full all the time. I was sure every day that she would die before she reached it, but she stuck it out like a trooper and became Ms. Solar System, earning a nifty trophy for the gym. I have avenged you against this wearisome foe, Kristina! ;) It only took almost literally her entire adult life. :/
As though sensing that congratulations are in order, Jorge picks that exact moment to appear in the driveway despite it still being day. He and Galaxy of course share a romantic hug. Unfortunately, he has not appeared since as of this writing. I'm not sure what's up with that. I hope his ghost is not bugged. I'm glad they did get this moment together, though.
And Collin's on fire again. This is getting to be a bit regular for my tastes. Brewing herbal concoctions seems a lot more dangerous than regular cooking.
Collin has finally done all he can with his aspiration at home, and, if I play my cards right, could potentially finish it in one more trip to Granite Falls. He and Andromeda are also ready to start their family now that she's completed one and most of another aspiration, and he is almost done with his. They set off for another trip to the woods.
I have no idea how long Galaxy is going to last, so I bring her with because I don't want her by herself at home, and I definitely don't want her dying alone while they're gone. I'd rather have them have sad moodlets on their vacation than that. I assume that her longevity is due to her long-lived trait which she got for her completed bodybuilder aspiration, but since her age bar still indicates that she should be about done, I have no idea how long she'll be with us. This time, the Harts stay in a nicer house on the off chance that it has an easel. I tried to bring one with Andromeda, but you can't put them in their personal inventories. Spoiler alert: the house did not have an easel so Andromeda still has nothing to do, although now I guess she can keep her possibly-immortal mother company.
"Hey, it's Creeper!"
"Buzz off, man. I don't want to talk to you. Where's Andromeda?"
"Busy. And taken, just by the way. We're married now, Creeper."
"I totally still have a chance."
"No. No, you don't."
While Collin searches the entire camping area for beetles of some sort so he can get past the second tier of this damn aspiration, Galaxy and Andromeda enjoy the comforting glow of a campfire . . . until Andromeda's seat catches on fire, that is!
Galaxy immediately springs into action while making the funniest face, but Andromeda appears merely annoyed that she almost got set on fire too.
"I just want to finish my salad!"
While Collin freaks out uselessly, Galaxy and the ranger put out the fire and then bask in their awesomeness. Nothing much to see here; just two badass ladies fighting fires like superheroes.
Meanwhile, Collin and a newly-alarmed Andromeda are still running around like dorks. I am really sick of fires by this point, so I made them put out the campfire pretty much every time they lit it from here on.
However, Collin still needed to roast those beetles. After becoming completely frustrated at my inability to find any, I once again sought help on the internet and read that you just need any insect in your inventory to roast beetles at a campfire. Ugh. And I wasted all that time, too. Anyway, Collin is finally on tier three of his aspiration. He was able to complete that tier on a run to the Deep Woods, and he completed most of the fourth tier too. He just needs to sleep five nights in a tent. How hard can that be?
"Kids, I'm glad you're in love and all, but your relentless courtship right over my shoulder is totally spoiling my enjoyment of my sparkling salad."
"Oh, sorry, Mom. We'll just retire to the tent out back. You know, to sleep. Not anything else."
"Right."
And thus the first kidlet of generation three was conceived in a tent in Granite Falls.
See? Proof! Andromeda is officially pregnant!
"You could have at least let me stand up before you take the picture!"
It's not my fault you're slower than the confetti.
The "tell the father" moment goes well. Collin and Andromeda are both stoked to soon welcome a little one into their lives. With any luck, Galaxy might even get to meet her grandbaby.
Vacation objectives achieved, everyone returns home. Collin just has to sleep in the tent four more nights, and Andromeda just has to paint three more masterpieces, so they finally get real jobs. Collin is in entertainment and will go into music, so he picks up the guitar. Andromeda is going into the tech guru career because we don't have any focusing objects yet. Purely practical.
With a flick of her paintbrush, Andromeda finishes her second aspiration. She now has the computer whiz aspiration since it matches her new career nicely. Andromeda is awesome. I love her. She's also finally showing a bit in this picture.
Pretty soon, she's showing A LOT. Andromeda is a fairly skinny thing, which she gets from her mother, but she really packed on some extra weight in . . . um, certain areas while pregnant. I was impressed and then embarrassed that I was impressed, but apparently not enough to keep me from sharing it. I got her the fertile trait because I was hoping we might see some more twins in the family.
So, it turns out that sleeping in the tent is not as easy as it sounds. For it to count, you have to let the activity expire on its own, running the full course. No canceling early. And the tent does not have great stats compared to Collin and Andromeda's nice, comfy bed, so it takes forever! There were several nights where Collin slept in the tent, but I had to cancel to get him to work on time, so it didn't count.
Hart women have no fear, but especially while pregnant. Whether it was Galaxy doing her dawn boxing or Andromeda jumping into the pool in her third trimester, these active ladies see pregnancy as no impediment to their lives. Still not sure those are good ideas, but they seem to enjoy it.
After a rousing swimming session, Andromeda starts to feel not so great. Could a birth be imminent? You'll have to check back next time to find out because we've reached the end of another chapter! Read the next chapter (when it's available!) to meet Andromeda and Collin's baby (babies?), see just how long Galaxy sticks around, and to finally get to see the decorated, completed house. In the meantime, stop by SiMania to chat with Kristina or me. Thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment